Tuesday Tunes--September 29, 2015
Shaun Cordingley
A new weekly feature on The Guys From, Tuesday Tunes will feature five songs every week that have caught our attention, are about to break (or like a lot of songs we have talked about in the past, be heavily featured in commercials in about six months), or an older song that deserves a little bit of love.
As a former DJ, and avid new music fan, it is my particular hope to help introduce folks to different music than they are used to, help you find a new band to add to the pantheon of favourites, or just give you a few tracks to get you through the work week.
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new and different music, or re-expose them to things they may have forgotten about. At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website, so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Without further ado, here are this weeks five:
"No I Won't Go"- brick+mortar
First off is a deeper cut off of the New Jersey punk-rock duo brick+mortar's 2013 EP "Bangs", 'No I Won't Go' is an electronic drum and bass leaning track for the band. Feelings of Gorillaz, mixed with a sort of modern folk rock, stomp-clap aesthetic punches an eminently singable song directly into your ears. Out of everything on this list this week, this is the track that has been absently hummed the most.
brick+mortar are one of those bands who have garnered a fair amount of local success, who frankly deserve a wider fan base; if you appreciated 'No I Won' Go' and want to experience the range of this duo's musical ability (not to mention lead singer Brandon Asraf's range of vocals) check out their latest single 'Voodoo Child', a cover of the Jimi Hendrix song of the same name the band did for this summer's Hitman: Agent 47.
'Devil's Whisper'- Raury
After a spectacular live performance of this song on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, I spent some time digging through Raury's library, but still feel like 'Devil's Whisper' is the song that will capture your attention the most (as it did mine). This genre blend, intertwining gospel, a folksy nature, and hip hop features a depth of base rhythms that are impossible to keep from pulsing in the depths of your soul. This is a song that you will not soon forget; and do not let the terms 'gospel' or 'hip hop' scare you from giving this song a shot; 'Devil's Whisper' is one of those songs that does not fit a specific label; it is just good.
Raury's debut LP "All We Need" is expected on the 16th of October, 2015.
'We Sink' -chvrches
There is very little reason for you to not know who chvrches are at this point, however it seems like this song, the song that got me personally into being a fan of the Scottish electro-band has faded away. Featured on the soundtrack for FIFA 14 (which, not going to lie, is where my attention was garnered), 'We Sink' really features the bands' eclectic and fun style, and the innocently beautiful voice of vocalist Lauren Mayberry.
While songs 'The Mother We Share', 'Leave a Trace' and even 'Clearest Blue' have surpassed 'We Sink's popularity (and are perhaps the singles you know chvrches for yourself), it is worth revisiting this track from their debut album "The Bones of What You Believe".
Just in case you are a massive chvches fan already, I felt the live KEXP performance was worth a listen, just for something different (and in all honesty, chvrches is one of those synthpop bands that sound just as good live as they do when produced).
'Sad Machine'- Porter Robinson
This single from the MTVu Artist of the Year, North Carolina DJ Porter Robinson, is an oddly beautiful electronic track with an in depth science fiction story about the last human on Earth interacting with a lonely A.I. computer. It's a little bit haunting, a little bit sad, but quite a touching concept song which reflects that good old love theme into a catchy and incredibly dance-able end of the night song (were I still DJing, I would spin the hell out of this at the end of certain nights).
Porter Robinson is currently touring North America, and then heads to Asia in December.
'Feels Like the First Time' - Foreigner
Felt like this was an appropriate end to our first Tuesday Tunes article; as technically it is the first time...as far as theguysfrom.com is concerned. Plus there were no classics on the list yet, and it was promised there would be some older songs here as well.
'Feels Like the First Time' is one of those songs that you have to sing along to if you know it, or one that you will now sing along to after you have listened to is on repeat for the next hour. Foreigner is one of the biggest and most successful 1970s British rock groups of all time, selling over 80 million records, and to be honest, it is hard to tell if they have ever stopped touring, despite original band members rotating in and out for the past 40 years.
Plus, this song is an excellent excuse to dust off the old 'shirt that only buttons up at the bottom' and think about feathering out your hair...
Thanks to the proliferation of streaming services, these five songs are readily accessible throughout the web, but we do encourage you to purchase any music that fits into your groove. Believe us when we say artists cannot be expected to produce work for free; most are willing to spend 5$ on a cup of coffee, maybe chuck 1$ or (*gasp*) 10$ at an artist.
See you again next Tuesday with 5 more tracks.
-S (@Shauncord)